Jensa said:
When gay marriage comes up to the ballot, what gives anyone the right to vote against something that will affect my rights?This goes doubly so if someone is straight, since it won't affect them at all.
This isn't a democratic society. We aren't allowed to vote on if Christians or atheists or Wiccans or Taoists or Buddhists or Muslims or black people or white people or green people get rights. Why do we vote on whether gays get rights?
Unfortunately, the founders of this nation were clouded by their own prejudices, so that when they wrote that all men were created equal, they didn't mean men of color, women, or anyone else that they happened to be prejudiced against. Since those days we have had to struggle with our own prejudices to correct their shortcomings. We have come to recognize that black men and women are also created equal and therefor deserve equal freedom, equal rights, and equal protections under the laws of the nation. But it's been a struggle, and the struggle continues.
You are absolutely right in that we should not be voting on whether or not any citizen in this nation should be treated equally under the law. It should already be understood that we are all equal under the law, and that should already be reflected in our laws. But sadly, there is and has always been a lapse between the ideal of equal freedom and justice for all citizens, and the reality of our prejudice infecting common beliefs, practices, and even our written laws.
Keep in mind that it was only a few short decades ago that we were able to finally face our racism and eliminate "Jim Crow" laws that should have been eliminated 75 years before, during emancipation. The civil war ended slavery, but it couldn't end the effect of racial prejudice on our laws because the racism remained long after the war was over.
The new "******s" in America are now the homosexuals. People who would not feel comfortable overtly condemning their fellow citizens because of their skin color currently feel free to condemn their fellow citizens loudly and proudly based on their sexual orientation. People of weak character and self-esteem need to make scape-goats of other people as a way of building themselves up at the other's expense. This is what prejudice against race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc., is all about. And at this time and place in America their current scape-goats are the homosexuals.
It's very difficult for our society as a whole to overcome this kind of prejudice because prejudice is in us all to some degree, and none of us likes looking at ourselves, critically, and admitting that we're being prejudiced against other people because we're feeling weak in ourselves. Many of us will simply refuse to challenge ourselves in this way and so it will take generations to overcome our prejudice.
So even though you're absolutely right in pointing out that such a vote on homosexual rights should not be happening, or even be necessary, the sad reality is that the American people have not yet faced their prejudice against homosexuality fully and clearly enough to recognize your point.
The good new is that we have faced many of our prejudices, and corrected the laws to reflect the essential ideals of equal freedom and justice for all. And I do believe that we will eventually do so for our homosexual fellow citizens, too. Sadly, though, it will take some time, yet.
